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Initiative
An initiative system or action order system is a game mechanic that determines the order in which characters can act in a pressured situation, most commonly in combat. It is a method of sharing spotlight and influencing strategy. Turn-based initiative Most initiative systems are turn-based, meaning that each character takes a turn (a roughly equal opportunity to act) before any character will take a second turn. A round is the collection of turns taken by every character in the scene. In a turn-based initiative systems, the important thing is to determine the order in which the characters act for a round. Sometimes this order will be used for every round in the scene, and sometimes it will be determined again at the start of each round. Statistics The most common method of determining initiative is to base it on the characters' statistics (either a dedicated initiative modifier or other appropriate stat), often with a random component. This is sometimes called a roll for initiative system. For example, Dungeons & Dragons and other games based on it typically determine initiative by having all characters roll a d20 and add an initiative modifier, then take turns in order of the results from highest to lowest (with ties broken by Dexterity score). Other games use their own standard resolution mechanic in place of the d20. For example, Fate Core has players roll the standard dice pool of 4dF and add an appropriate skill. The extent to which initiative order depends on randomness or character ability will depend on the probability curve of the dice that are used, particularly the width of the curve, compared to the value of the modifier applied. A d20 system (a flat curve from 1 to 20) with small initiative modifiers (say, up to 3), like low-tier Dungeons & Dragons, will have a much higher degree of randomness than a 4dF system (a bell curve from -4 to +4) in which the relevant skill might be larger than the maximum (or minimum) result of the dice (say, from 0 to +5). Feats and other character traits beyond standard numerical statistics may also influence initiative for specific characters. Initiative can be tracked with a written list, index cards (e.g. with the order written on, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), tokens (flipped once a turn has happened) or other game aids. Purely random Some games do not refer to characters' statistics in order to determine initiative order, but rather make it purely random. Dice are less useful for this, because there is a high chance of ties, so other randomisers are used more often. For example, Savage Worlds uses playing cards to determine initiative, giving the deck a strict order based first on number (or face) then on suit to break ties between numbers. Basing initiative on the order in which players are sitting around a table is a purely random intiative system. However, in practice this is likely to only be purely random the first time it is used, and initiative will be largely static for the session (or, in the event of a standard seating arrangement, the whole campaign). This can be somewhat mitigated by randomly selecting a player to go first each round, e.g. using a spinner, or by using a first-player token or button that moves around the table each time initiative would be determined (so a new player goes first in each new scene). Even in purely random initiative systems, some characters may be able to influence the initiative order by means of feats or other character traits. Elective Elective initiative is an initiative system in which each character who takes a turn chooses another character who has not yet taken a turn in that round to take the next turn. The final character to act in the round chooses who acts first in the next round. Elective initiative is also called Balsera initiative (after Leonard Balsera, the game designer who inspired itAccidentally Designing Marvel's Action Order System by Fred Hicks), popcorn initiative (after popcorn readingPopcorn Initiative: A Great Way to Adjust D&D and Pathfinder Initiative with a Stupid Name by The Angry GM), or handoff initiativeReddit comment by Cam Banks. Determining who acts first in this initiative system may come from fictional positioning, GM fiat, or one of the other methods on this page (often statistics-based or purely random). This system allows players to chain actions together, both to enhance the narration (e.g. one character setting up another for an impressive teamwork move) and to take out enemies before they have a chance to act again. Some game systems allow players to interrupt the flow of initiative by paying resources or metacurrency, which can mitigate the risk of long chains. However, in multi-round combat scenes, the key to controlling the flow of the scene is to have one side (usually the player characters or the GM) dictate both the first and last character to act in a round. The ability to do this depends on the number of characters in the scene; fights will be much easier for the players if there are more player characters than enemies, and harder if there are more enemies than player characters, an extension of the standard action economy. Elective initiative first appeared in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Factions Some games divide active participants into two factions (generally one faction controlled by the players and one by the GM), then alternate between the factions. On a faction's turn, every character in the faction gets to act in an order set by the faction players. This sort of initiative has a high chance of dog-piling, in which one faction can wipe out another before the other faction gets to act, and avoiding this requires a very well-balanced game or highly attentive GM. This sort of initiative was used in Tunnels & Trolls. Shot-based or countdown initiative In shot-based or countdown initiative systems, characters are given a type of spendable resource (called shots in Feng Shui and raises in ''7th Sea'' second edition) which they can use to perform actions each round. The character with the most shots takes an action, reducing their shots to perform an action, then the character that now has the most shots takes the next action, until no further actions can be performed, at which point the round ends. Shots may be tracked with tokens (one for each character in the scene) that move down a numbered board as shots are spend; this board is called a shot clock. In order to randomise who goes first, these systems randomise the total number of shots that characters have each round, usually by means of rolling a dice or dice pool with reference to character statistics (e.g. 7th Sea characters roll a number of d10s equal to an appropriate attribute score plus a skill score, then combine these dice to make sets of 10 or more). Depending on the randomness method used, characters may have shot numbers that are closely clustered or greatly spaced out. However, while randomness in turn-based initiative systems (above) does not affect how much a character is able to do in a round (unless they are taken out before the round ends), a random factor in a shot-based initiative system inevitably means that some characters will be able to act more than others since the number of shots are character has affects not only the order of actions, but how many actions can be performed. In a shot-based initiative system, certain character actions, traits or abilities may be able to affect how many shots other characters have (e.g. awarding extra shots to allies or taking them from enemies), either before or after the shot totals have been determined for the round. Shot-based initiative systems usually apply different shot costs to different actions, usually so that more effective actions will have a higher cost. However, the games that have used shot-based initiative so far have made shot costs consistent for all characters, i.e. a given action costs the same number of shots no matter which character is performing it. An alternative approach would be for actions to have different shot costs for different characters, depending on the specialties or traits of those characters (e.g. a fighter has a lower shot cost for attacking but a cleric has a lower shot cost for healing). This would increase the game's complexity, but would be possible if characters used playbook-style character creation with pre-printed shot costs for each archetype (similar to the approach of Feng Shui 2). No initiative system Some games do not have an initiative system, including Apocalypse World and other games based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system. In these cases, the active character is generally determined by fictional positioning and GM fiat. Games without initiative generally do not have separate systems for combat. See also *Surprise References External links * *Initiative Rules, and How to Pick a Fight by Brandes Stoddard Category:Design Category:Role-playing